Metro State advances to Final Four with 78-65 win over Franklin Pierce

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Nicholas Kay wasn't going to let the rebound get away from him. Not with an NCAA Division II national championship quest on the brink of falling apart for Metro State.

So when the ball bounced off the rim late in Thursday's national quarterfinal game against Franklin Pierce, Kay wrapped his hands around it and went back up for a layup. He scored and the Roadrunners took a 64-63 lead with 4:30 remaining.

The third-ranked team in the nation never looked back and advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 2002 with a 78-65 win over the unranked Ravens Thursday afternoon at Freedom Hall.

Kay is only a sophomore but he played with the effort and poise of a veteran. He scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and was always willing to scrap to give his team opportunities at second-chance points, a category the Roadrunners (31-2) held a 14-4 advantage in.

"We talked all week about giving everything we had," Kay said. "I tried to chase every rebound and make shots when I had chances. Our whole team gave an extra effort and it helped put us over the top."

Metro will play Saturday at 10 a.m. against No. 1 West Liberty State (33-1). The Final Four winner plays April 7 in the national championship game.

Thursday was Kay's second go-round in the Elite Eight. The native of Australia played here a year ago and came in averaging 10.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He said the experience that comes with playing in the pressure-packed environment of this event paid off.

"I didn't know much last year, but now I understand how hard you have to play to succeed at this level," Kay said.

At times, it seemed as if playing hard wouldn't be enough for the Roadrunners, who rolled into Kentucky on a seven-game win streak. No matter how many times the Roadrunners surged ahead, the Ravens closed the gap time and again.

Franklin Pierce grabbed a 63-62 lead when Ryen Vilmont knocked down his only 3-pointer for the Ravens (24-9). But Franklin Pierce scored just two points the rest of the game as the Roadrunners closed with a 16-2 run, including scoring the game's last 10 points.

"It wasn't as if I was drawing up plays for the shots we made," MSU coach Derrick Clark said. "We were aggressive until the end and that is the lesson we learned from last year."

"I'm happy with how hard we played," Franklin Pierce head coach David Chadbourne said, "but we didn't finish as well as we usually do."

Part of that had to do with the clutch shots the Roadrunners came up with down the stretch, including a 3-pointer in the corner from Mitch McCarron, who pushed the Roadrunners' lead to 73-65 and clenched his fists as he ran down the floor. He finished with 16 points. Brandon Jefferson added 16 points and Jonathan Morse 10 points as the Roadrunners shot 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the field.

Metro State head coach Derrick Clark said he didn't have anything special to tell his team down the stretch. It was all about execution by his players.

"The game is in their hands. They have to make plays," Clark said. "I chewed them out a couple of times in timeouts, but that was only to inspire them to play a little better basketball. It wasn't as if I was drawing up plays for the shots we made. We were aggressive until the end and that is the lesson we learned from last year."

And last year was no doubt a hard lesson to learn. The Roadrunners fell 67-65 to eventual national runner-up Montevallo in the quarterfinals.

"It's a blessing to win this game and get the monkey off our back," Jefferson said. "We always brought up Montevallo. We used it as motivation."

It showed early as the Roadrunners jumped in front 22-15 with 9:15 to go and led 35-30 at the half after Jefferson soared in for a layup off a steal in the closing seconds.

Yet, Metro State couldn't create separation in the second half despite its uptempo play.

"This is championship basketball. You aren't going to get a lot of separation in these games," Clark said. "I tip my hat to Franklin Pierce. They gave us everything we could handle. We'll enjoy this win for a short time and then get back to business."